The Spirit Carries Him Away (Ezekiel 3:12-15).
‘Then the Spirit lifted me up and I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion. “Blessed be the glory of Yahweh from his place.” And I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheel beside them, and the noise of a great commotion.'
At this point the Spirit lifted Ezekiel up and took him away, and as he was being taken away he heard behind him ‘the voice of a great commotion'. (The root can mean ‘earthquake, roaring, commotion', compare Jeremiah 10:22; Jeremiah 47:3). Voices swelled up to heaven crying, “Blessed be the glory of Yahweh from His place.” They were probably the voices of the living creatures (compare Revelation 4:8; Revelation 8:13). And they praised the coming of ‘the glory of Yahweh' from His place. The glory of Yahweh represents His presence, compare Ezekiel 1:23; Ezekiel 10:13; Ezekiel 11:23; Ezekiel 43:4. For ‘from His place' compare Micah 1:3, ‘for behold Yahweh comes forth from His place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth'. Compare also Hosea 5:15; and see Ezekiel 38:15; Zephaniah 2:11. Thus they were celebrating the coming of Yahweh's glorious presence Who had specifically come from His eternal dwellingplace to meet with Ezekiel.
‘And I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheel beside them, and the noise of a great commotion.' As the voices swelled up he also heard the chariot of God once more on the move, the whirring of the wings of the living creatures, the rumbling of the wheels, and the continual praise and worship of the living creatures.
Some have suggested translating, ‘Then the Spirit lifted me up and as the glory of Yahweh arose from its place I heard behind me the voice of a great earthquake.' This translation requires the changing of kaph in brk (to bless) to mem to make it brm (using the root rum - to lift up). These two letters were easily confused in ancient Hebrew. They see the text as it stands as a little awkward, They suggest that after the great roaring or earthquake we do not expect an interjection, especially as the great roaring is repeated in Ezekiel 3:13, nor, they say, does ‘from His place' fit well with the interjection. The sense is in fact fairly similar but loses the paean of praise. However it seems to us that the text makes good sense as it stands.